Subject: NF-09-0066: Message from President Stephen M. Younger
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 15:42:30 -0800
I am very happy to report that National Security Technologies LLC has been awarded an OUTSTANDING rating by the Department of Energy for exemplary work during fiscal year 2008. Last week we were informed that we had achieved a score of 95% - one of the highest in the DOE complex. This recognition of superior performance is the result of a year-long commitment to excellence by the entire organization. As part of this recognition, the period of performance on our contract was extended through September 2012, by exercising our first award term year.
In addition to the DOE, your outstanding performance was recognized by the parent companies of NSTec. I am pleased to announce that our Board of Managers has unanimously approved a resolution to share 3% of the FY08 award fee earned by our company with employees. This is in addition to the several other incentive programs that are already in place. All employees who meet the following criteria will participate equally in Sharing for Success. To be eligible to receive a Sharing For Success check, the employee must be a regular bargaining unit or non-bargaining employee, either full-time or part-time; be employed by NSTec for at least the 10 months prior to the date the Sharing For Success checks are prepared; be in an active pay status on the date the Sharing For Success checks are prepared; and receive at least a Successful rating on the most recent Performance Review (non-bargaining only). Employees who are on a Performance Improvement Plan and those who have received written discipline in the prior 10 months are not eligible for a Sharing for Success check. These checks, with appropriate tax and other required deductions, will be distributed prior to the end of December 2008.
I am so proud of NSTec - to achieve an outstanding rating given the huge challenges that needed to be overcome is simply awesome. But then again, NTS is used to spectacular things - we do indeed have a proud past and an exciting future. We face a whole new set of challenges for FY09, but I am confident that we will meet our objectives.
Congratulations to each and every employee - we are one of the best companies in the complex!
Don't expect to see a single penny of the LANS profit fees released to employees by Bechtel.
ReplyDeleteThey are here for only one purpose -- to milk as much money as then can out of this place.
NSTec is indeed a good company. Sort of odd that they occupy the old Bechtel building in Los Alamos.
ReplyDeleteAnd did you know that every Bechtelian that comes to work here automatically gets a 5% increase. I think they use the term "uplift".
ReplyDeleteCount the number of Bechtelians already here, make an educated guess as to what their salary is, and add 5%. Voila! Talk about "milking".
I beg your pardon, that's the old EG&G building. Class act, nevertheless.
ReplyDeleteNot exactly LANL East - Knoxville News
ReplyDeleteBy Frank Munger, Dec 10th
blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/
munger/2008/12/
not_exactly_lanl_east.html
About 100 Los Alamos scientists and engineers have reportedly moved to ORNL over the past five years. That sort of migration, small as it might be, didn't use to happen, I note in today's column.
What's up with that?
"We didn't use to have high-performance computers. We didn't have an SNS (Spallation Neutron Source). We didn't have a revitalized HFIR (High Flux Isotope Reactor) coming online," said Dana Christensen, an associate lab director at ORNL who came to Oak Ridge from Los Alamos.
What's the difference between living at Los Alamos and Oak Ridge?
"The big difference in Oak Ridge is the proximity of Knoxville and commuting availabilty, like the airport. I find Knoxville to be a very young, high-vitality community," Christensen said.
Anastasio should be so ashamed to be outdone by the likes of Younger.
ReplyDeleteI remember the days when Younger was a 2nd rate LANL manager. Now he looks great by comparison.
ReplyDelete"I beg your pardon, that's the old EG&G building. Class act, nevertheless. - 12/16/08 5:04 PM"
ReplyDeleteI beg my pardon back...the building was indeed EG&G, but it indeed had 'Bechtel' emblazoned upon it for a while before NSTech took it over.
Anastasio should be so ashamed to be outdone by the likes of Younger.
ReplyDelete12/16/08 6:38 PM
Don't waste your time trying to shame Mikey. It's clear he has no shame.
This is a guy who thinks it proper as LANL Director to have LANS pay for his costly sports car which he proudly parks out front of Otowi each and every day. That tells you a lot about the man.
I am reminded of Harold Agnew who rode his bike to work each morning.
ReplyDeleteHere at LANL, we don't give out measly $300 checks to all the employees for earning a high performance score.
ReplyDeleteInstead, we hand out $3 K checks to all the females and Hispanics to settle discrimination suits.
12/17/08 11:50 AM: Let me guess; you are a white male racist AND a bad performer.
ReplyDeleteI took 11:50 AM's comment to be a criticism of LANL for not dealing with discrimination and not offering NSTec style performance incentives. If I thought it was intended to be racist I would not have published it. Hopefully he or she will leave another comment to clarify what they meant.
ReplyDeleteThat's how I read 11:50's comment: not racist. More along the lines of an ounce of prevention...
ReplyDeleteI remember being invited to one of the first brown bag sessions the chief ewok held. Each person was allowed to ask him a question. One employee, I think he was from HR, made a statement that there were many ways of improving processes at the lab and realizing real savings, but that doing so was always a difficult battle given the typical attitude of “that’s the way we do it here”. That person then went on to ask why a bonus system couldn’t be set up that would award a small percentage of real savings for ideas to improve processes at the lab.
ReplyDeleteAt first, as he nibbled on a carrot, the chief ewok nodded his head as if he thought this idea had merit. Rather suddenly, his face took on a look of contempt and he sputtered something along the lines of “why should I pay you a bonus for doing your job?”
Of course, many of us in the room made eye contact with each other with the same thought going through our minds. Of course, this mentality from the top down coupled with little gems like the recent “review balancing” will put us at a disadvantage when compared to companies like NSTec.
I read the comment to be both racist and sexist. However, this thread brings up the question of whether the person that labels someone to be a racist for having made a racist and sexist comment... a sexist him or herself? Or maybe the labeler is just insensitive to sexism? Like perhaps the original poster might be?
ReplyDeleteDid you see that Motorola is freezing salaries and pensions, and stopping contributions to 401k plans?
ReplyDeleteI read 12/17/08 1:50 PM, 12/17/08 1:57 PM, 12/17/08 4:05 PM, and 12/17/08 4:53 PM as Political Correctness, e.g. BS, and as a consequence creates an atmosphere of passive-aggressiveness when you are forced to hold back any honest opinions, whether it´s within NW science, or anything else, with performance amongst whites/caucasians, afro-americans, hispanics, native-americans, asian-americans, et cetera, can´t be addressed, b/c you are almost immeditely criticized, almost as a Pavlov-effect to be racist, sexist, et cetera, by this modern religion, i.e. POLITICAL CORRECTNESS. (I hate this BS.)
ReplyDelete"you are forced to hold back any honest opinions, whether it´s within NW science, or anything else, with performance amongst whites/caucasians, afro-americans, hispanics, native-americans, asian-americans, et cetera, can´t be addressed... (I hate this BS.)
ReplyDelete12/17/08 8:55 PM"
You hate it, because you think it's BS. And that's the problem -- YOUR problem. Race (and sex, for that matter) have nothing to do with performance, so why would your "honest opinion" associate these two uncorrelated topics? Your premise is flawed... and racist.
"I read the comment to be both racist and sexist. However, this thread brings up the question of whether the person that labels someone to be a racist for having made a racist and sexist comment... a sexist him or herself? Or maybe the labeler is just insensitive to sexism? Like perhaps the original poster might be?
ReplyDelete12/17/08 4:53 PM"
Interesting insight. It sort of sounds like the postmodern deconstructionists. All statments
must have a latent intention to enforce suppression of some group. The rise of human language itself was brought about to create an artificial power imbalance amongst groups. We must therefore stop using the current language ...
you can run around looking fror excuses to be insulted or actually wait a long time to be insulted.
ReplyDeleteif the earlier supposedly racist reference intended to be racist, s/he would have used stronger language.
S**c, K**e, W*p, N****r, c**t, R********n, etc.
My take is you overreacted.
Rosy Palm
Oh good grief people! Why does everything turn into a banter back-and-forth about racism? WHy don't you focus on the topic at hand? That is unless the reason that NSTec is sharing their reward fee with its employess - and LANS not -is now going to be viewed as racism-based.
ReplyDeleteNever see this at LLNL. That's for sure!
ReplyDelete"This is a guy who thinks it proper as LANL Director to have LANS pay for his costly sports car which he proudly parks out front of Otowi each and every day. That tells you a lot about the man."
ReplyDeleteTrying to equate this to the Mustang incident? The director has a legitimate need for it and it is in his contract. It is a PERK.
"The director has a legitimate need for it..."
ReplyDeleteAnd that is what, exactly? To get away as far and fast as possible from Los Alamos County every night, thus minimizing the chances he'll have to look any of his employees in the eye?
"Did you see that Motorola is freezing salaries and pensions, and stopping contributions to 401k plans?"
ReplyDelete12/17/08 8:02 PM
Motorola is a component company along with others (IBM, Lockheed, etc.) that are used by NNSA to compute the "market driven" 105% equivalent benefits measure that is applied by LANS for all new hires and those in TCP2:
---
LANS Total Compensation Design
and Strategy
Proposal to NNSA (Mercer, Mar '06)
www.doeal.gov/laso
/LANSBenefitsDocs
/LANSBenefitProposal030306.ppt
---
If Motorola is now cutting benefits, it makes me wonder how much long it will be until NNSA enforces the 105% benefits clause and moves LANS to further reduce benefits.
American executives seem to be in a race to the bottom when it comes to honoring promises to their loyal workers.
"The director has a legitimate need for it and it is in his contract. It is a PERK." - 10:53 AM
ReplyDeletePerks are what they call these things over at Bechtel.
From where I stand, it looks to be more like a Pirate's Booty. In fact, Bechtel appears to view the whole LANL complex as a thing to be plundered.
PERK - Penis Extending Reward for KiloTonnage
ReplyDeleteAnastasio appears to be out of town. I haven't seen his sports car parked out front of Otowi for some time.
ReplyDeleteAnybody know what's going on at the top floor of the NSSB? Is the Director out in Washington working to salvage what's left at LANL under the new Administration?
Perhaps the recent rumors of DOD control of the weapons complex are more than just idle talk. Bob Gates has a lot of credibility with Obama. If Gates is concerned about the decline of the weapons complex and wants it pulled under the DOD's wing, it will probably happen.
The word from Bechtel (or lack thereof) - Knoxville News, Dec 18
ReplyDeleteDavid Walker, the president of Bechtel National, was in town this week (reportedly for a board of managers meeting at Y-12) and was in attendance at Tuesday's ceremony marking the start of demolition at K-25 (that's being conducted by Bechtel Jacobs).
Bechtel, of course, is a huge contracting force in the DOE/NNSA complex, but I don't see Walker often in Oak Ridge. So I took the opportunity to approach him at the K-25 event for a couple of questions.
Mind you, the answers you get as a reporter are often only as good as the questions, and I'll fess up that I didn't ask Walker very good questions.They were soft, open-ended, ineffective.
I asked if him if he had any general thoughts on NNSA plans to recompete and possibly restructure the management contracts in the weapons complex.
"Nope. Don't have any," he said.
I then asked about the incoming administration in Washington.
"We'll see," he said.
I had hoped to follow up with something more specific, but Walker's body language made it pretty clear he wasn't interested in an interview.
Oh, well. Onward we go. The weather was pretty chilly, too.
Posted by Frank Munger on December 18, 2008 at 4:52 PM
---
Comments:
Frank, what did you expect? You got the typical, arrogant Bechtel response. Legends in their own minds who are incapable of mistakes. Just ask them.
NNSA's Tom D'Agostino says he doing a fine job. Many of the employees who work under him would say otherwise:
ReplyDelete-----
U.S. Addressing WMD Report's Recommendations, Nuclear Agency Says
- Global Security Newswire, Dec. 12, 2008
www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/
gsn/nw_20081212_3172.php
The U.S. Energy Department's nuclear weapons oversight agency responded favorably to a congressionally mandated report urging quick action to prevent WMD terror strikes on the United States, the office said last week (see GSN, Dec. 2).
The nonproliferation steps advocated in the report fall mostly in line with the objectives of the National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear stockpile and works worldwide to track, secure, and eliminate potential nuclear and radiological weapon ingredients and prevent the spread of WMD technology and expertise, the agency said.
The agency "welcomes this report’s emphasis on efforts to promote nuclear security and prevent WMD proliferation and terrorism,” NNSA chief Thomas D’Agostino said in a statement. “NNSA programs and people are on the ground every day and around the world to advance efforts to combat WMD proliferation and terrorism."
The agency noted its work to prevent "at-risk" nuclear scientists from contributing to WMD proliferation, a priority addressed in the report. The semiautonomous entity also provides funding and in-kind support for the International Atomic Energy Agency, according to the release; the report's authors recommended increasing financial support for the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
The Energy Department organization added that it this year "announced plans to leverage the scientific and technical capabilities of its work force to meet the needs of evolving national security requirements for the future." That would help to meet another recommendation put forward in the report.
“I am encouraged by the findings of the report and its efforts to address future needs of the national security work force. NNSA’s national security laboratories -- Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory -- and the Nevada Test Site have world-class scientists, engineers and capabilities that are national assets,” D’Agostino continued in the statement. “To respond to the evolving 21st century global security threats, NNSA will bring our science, technology and engineering enterprise to bear on solving large, urgent national security challenges” (U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration release, Dec. 4).
just enough for a hummer at the Kit Kat. about all NStech is worth.
ReplyDeleteAt least they have enough for a nice hummer. All we'll see is a lump of coal in our holiday stockings. Of course, if you are a LANS executive with that fat 20% bonus, you'll have enough for something really special this season like a shiny new sports car. Zoom, zoom!
ReplyDelete"just enough for a hummer at the Kit Kat. about all NStech is worth."
ReplyDeleteBetter than the little boning LANS gave some folks on the 401k match by having the 1/1/09 paycheck counted for 2008, without making the info they were going to do so generally available in a timely manner (1/3/08 paycheck was counted in 2008).